Where do I buy the capacitors for a MacBook Pro logic board?

I Re-flowed my GPU an NVIDIA GT330M which worked for about a month then died again. In my wise thinking i went to do it again without any of the ifixit instructions or a temp gun and got carried away a little. Now it looks like i'm missing 2 or 3 capacitors.

3 Answers

Timothy, you obviously know what has happened and why it happened. You have also been informed about what the proper way of repairing this board would be. Just to answer your question about the missing components:

reference designator C8470 is a 10UF 6.3V 20% capacitor in a 603 package

reference designator C8420 is a 10UF 6.3V 20% capacitor in a 603 package

reference designator C8643 is a 4.7UF 6.3V 20% capacitor in a 603 package

Components are widely available at places like Mouser.com or digikey.com as well as many others. Hope this helps, good luck.

This is an 820-2850. They have issues with dropping pgood signals and LVDS_MUX and much of it is inside the vias in the board, not the video chip.

In plain English, there is no fixing this. Even Apple know it is beyond hope for this model. They had an exchange program going for a while on this model, and they would send back a slightly modified board. I tried those same modifications, and others, but it never works long term. Just fail fail fail fail fail.

In terms of caps on alibaba there are chinese sellers that sell the entire board for $15 to $20 minus the GPU/CPU. They are of couurse dead and a hole in them but that is the best way to do this. Looking up every individual part is going to be a PITA.

While I highly appreciate the can do attitude and spirit, and will do whatever necessary to revive something worthwhile, this is where even I will call it quits and toss it in a bin. Several other board component level refurbishing centers I've talked to have stopped taking these in altogether for the same reasons.

b) Put $200 into it, have it still randomly die and kernel panic, and sell it for X dollars.

A is less wasted money.

All the chips you will find on eBay are used/remarked/reballed junk. Even I got screwed two months ago by a big name in chipset selling on eBay.

The issue with this board is not just what you've already done to it, it is fundamentally, by design, borked. You can repair it to factory condition, and it is still a clunker. :(

I have an 820-2850 board I can probably send you from my pile of 25+ of them that I scrapped and gave up on for you to steal small components from if you have a US postal service deliverable address but please don't put good money into this thing. :(

Tim--Reflowing a GPU is one of those internet myths. It seems like a good theory--heating up a chip to bring the solder balls back into a liquid form where they will then reform strong joints.

In practice, this isn't something that actually works---the chip itself is bad. I think of it like a string of christmas lights that kind of sometimes works if you hold it just the right way. Heat can help it temporarily, but when we heat gun and bake stuff--we are not actually reflowing solder. Even if we were, the problem isn't in the solder balls, it is in the chip design.

The thing is, you can send your board out for a new chip. This is a permanent repair and there are lots of talented people that run the expensive bga machines that can do this in a robust, repeatable way. It's not DIY, but it will save your board and get you back on the road.

So I should buy a new GT330M off ebay. Then pay someone $100+ to put the new GPU on but im still missing those little capacitors and resistors. Unless the place i send it to has a whole stockpile of them.

Anyone with the capability to do a GPU job isn't going to sweat coming up with a few caps. My expertise is in iPhones/iPads, so I would for sure defer to what Louis is telling you on this one. This is exactly what he does all day every day.

There is a fix for "faulty GPU" from MacBook Pro 2010s. The problem is NOT the GPU but a faulty capacitor that can be fixed by this software fix or by exchanging the capacitor. Exchanging the GPU will not work!

I personally use the software fix, which works fine - the GPU works at around 80% of its max performance and the MacBook Pro never crashes. The only thing that does not work is external displays. So if you need this to work, get the hardware fix. A capacitor costs around 3$, so all you have to pay for is the repair or do it yourself. There is a couple of YouTube videos that show the repair.

can replace the gpu but you will also need to do the relevant capacitors. Just measure them when running before applying heat. then you know which. replace them and if need be and if you have a propper bga chip station and access to the gpu then replace it. make sure the one you are putting on is good of course. but no problems, bobs your uncle and off you go mate.